Doggone Awesome Inspiration For Happy Living

Ducky’s birthday continues … although this isn’t a proper post, she insisted that I share these photos. She was a “good girl” and sat for her birthday photo, but then she got to have some fun. She says it’s always important to balance work with play. And this is how you play :

Linguist Noam Chomsky said, “If you’re teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.”

Joyful Springers modify with the years. Instead of regurgitating what they’ve always known, they keep expanding their knowledge and opening their minds more and more with each passing year.

If you think being up to date in your knowledge is a task only for those in the teaching field, think again. Every interaction you have with others is a form of teaching … when you share your knowledge, you teach … in any setting. If you’re teaching what you’ve always taught (sharing the same old knowledge over and over), you’re not only stagnating, you’re limiting those around you as well. Try learning something new as often as possible … you’ll love how it keeps your energy levels high and raises the quality of all your interactions.

[Ducky is 5 years old today! Tim and I still can't believe how fast the years have flown past. We still talk about that precious puppy who slept on my chest on the way home the day we got her. Tim tells me frequently, "She was bonded with you inside of 10 minutes." And she was ... how precious is that trust, so freely and abundantly given! Happy Birthday to Ducky!! (Yes, her birthday hat is a little big for her. So here's a photo of her without the hat, so you can see her adorable face better:) ]

As I announced in my last post, this is goodbye for now.

With a woof and a wag, Ducky and I wish you joy!

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

Albert Einstein said, “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

Joyful Springers know everything is a miracle. They see everyday as filled with miracles, and they relish every moment whether romping in the grass, chasing lizards/squirrels/birds, or greeting loved ones.

Each day can be wonderful if you greet it as a miracle!

[Mattie's back, and she brought her momma, Brenda McGee, with her. Brenda wrote today's post. Thank you, Brenda! Like all Joyful Springer "mommas", she knows first hand what it's like to live with a being who savors every moment of the day. Mattie is a master of finding miracles, as are all Joyful Springers!]

Sometimes events conspire to push us into places we didn’t plan to go or out of places we were sure we’d stay. Instead of attempting to ignore these little shoves, we need to honor them.

Joyful Springers honor the nudge. They follow guidance when they are prompted to change the direction of their energy, but they keep in mind that they’ll never truly know how many lives they have touched or how deeply they have enriched others.

Look at your energy and projects. Are you being nudged? Follow your nudges because one nudge leads to another! In the energy you expend, you create more love and pawsitives for all.

(Pump, Butch, Jeter, and Penny are back. Their momma, Helen Gibbons, always wanted to do a post for The Joyful Springer. She felt the nudge and finally did one! She sent the following message to me along with the above post: “Thank you, Ande, for this privilege. And we thank you for all your words, dedication, wisdom, support and friendship. We are family and we leave ‘No Paw Behind.’ We look forward to the day when we finally meet you, Tim, Ducky. You will always be our friends! The Pack heard something the moment I took this picture…perhaps it was a nudge!?” Thank you to Helen for her wise words and her kind appreciation.)

Confucius said, “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

Joyful Springers adjust their steps. When their progress toward a desire isn’t what they’d like it to be, they do a little adjusting and try new approaches.

Don’t ever give up on a dream that truly matters to you. When it seems like what you want is now and will forever be out of your reach, it’s still not time to throw in the towel. It’s just time to do something new, something you’ve tried before. If the destination really matters to you, you can forge a trail to get there.

[Poppy, Sweet Pea, and Daisy are back. Their momma, Denise, wrote to me about this photo: "Daisy and Poppy were driving me crazy, sitting in the bay window and barking at anything that moved. So I closed the blinds. It got SOOO quiet! I went to see what was up, and there they all were, lined up on the stairs looking out the small window at the front door, the only view of the street available to them. I feel so safe!" Rightfully so! What baddies could get past this bouquet of sentries? ]

Ducky and I Need To Say Farewell

It’s time. I’ve been debating off and on for several months whether continuing to create new posts for The Joyful Springer is the best use of my time. I have decided that though I love all my Joyful Springers, my energy is moving toward other projects.

I originally set up this blog as both a tribute to Muggins and a celebration of Ducky, but I also thought the blog would be a path to other goals. This hasn’t been the case. So it’s time to “adjust the action steps.”

The last post will be on the 24th … that’s Ducky’s birthday, and she already had to sit through me taking a photo of her in her birthday hat, so she says I have to use it. Seems fitting to bring this journey to a close on Ducky’s birthday.

Between now and then, we’ll have a couple guest posts.

I don’t know if I’m saying goodbye forever. I plan to leave the blog online, and who knows? I might get the urge to start posting again at some point.

In the meantime, I thank you all for taking the time to be part of The Joyful Springer. I appreciate all the photos I’ve received!

To those of you who have become e-mail buddies: I’d love to stay in touch, and I’ll still want to see photos when you feel the urge to send them to me.

Remember that life is supposed to be fun. Growl only when absolutely necessary, and wag everyday. Always spring into joy.

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

Chinese poet, Laozi said, “We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.”

Joyful Springers are aware of the where the spokes join. They know how to live in the gaps between the doing … they look within to where their divinity joins with their humanity and makes being possible.

If you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, it’s likely that you’re focused too much on the structure of your life and too little on the open spaces within your experience. Try tuning into the silence between the doing in your over-filled agenda, and you’ll find your way back to the peace of your true existence.

[Pump, Butch, and Penny are back (and Jeter's back too, below ). Their momma, Helen, sent me this photo and said, "Look at the pack this A.M." She said this photo was taken after the morning they had company, and "They are exhausted." No doubt that after this snooze they'll be ready for more company. Jeter was snoozing too, but he needed some alone time: ]

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

Joyful Springers scuff it up. They know that if they dig around at something that seems to be “the way it is,” they can turn it into something else.

Everything in your world is changeable. Even situations that have “always been this way” can be different. Whenever you feel like you’re stuck in a pattern you don’t like, start unraveling the pattern by looking for the underlying beliefs and attitudes you have about it. Often, just changing one little perception can completely shift even the most immutable issues.

[Ducky loves to scuff up the beach. She delights in dropping her stick and then digging a hole for it before she picks the stick up again and continues on her way.]

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Right? Isn’t that what we’re told. Maybe being tough does serve us sometimes. But often, we need the opposite of toughness.

Joyful Springers are pillowy. They understand that being soft and yielding often gets them far better results than does baring their teeth and refusing to back down.

If you’ve been facing off with a person or a situation and it’s not changing in spite of all of your effort, perhaps it’s time for you to surrender. What you resist persists. When you drop the struggle and just allow what is to be what is, you’ll frequently find that the immovable force you were up against dissolves as if by magic.

[Kellar's back. After all of his fetching, this sweetie needs his rest! Clearly, he knows how to be pillowy, in more ways than one. Not only does he find comfy spots, he is pillowy in his whole life. Born blind, he has yielded to the world in a trusting way that has given him an awesome life. ]

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

For much of our day, we go, go, go. And that’s fine, but we also need to let go.

Joyful Springers crash. When they’re ready for a rest, they fully and completely let go of all need to do anything at all.

Do you think you always have to be accomplishing something (reading, doing a hobby, puttering around the house etc), even when you’re resting? Although this kind of relaxation is useful, to truly recharge your batteries, you need times of total and complete nothingness. When you learn to fully relax your body and let your mind go, you in a sense “crash the system,” which provides a clean slate from which to reboot. If you make room in your day for at least a few moments of crashing, you’ll experience higher energy levels than ever before.

[Ducky definitely knows how to crush. And she does it so adorably, doesn't she? ]

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

It’s great for us to take pride in ourselves, but can we take pride too far?

Joyful Springers get on their stoop. They may be proud, but they park that pride on a foundation of humility, stooping into modest respect for others too.

The difference between being the fullness of yourself and being full of yourself is a matter of balance. You can and should be aware that you’re “all that.” But your self love needs to be built on your ability to stoop to others, who are just as awesome as you are.

[Mattie is back. Isn't she a lovely patriot?]

Happy July 4th!

Andrea (Ande) Rains Waggener, is an author and fanatical dog mom and a practicing Joyful Springer.

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